


Long Time Coming

by Okadiah



Category: Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: F/M, First Time, Kanera Trope-Athon, Love, Smut, Thirsty Hera, kanera2k17
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-22
Updated: 2017-05-22
Packaged: 2018-11-03 20:34:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10974843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Okadiah/pseuds/Okadiah
Summary: For years, Kanan and Hera have abstained from taking that final physical step in their relationship. But with the future so undefined, and time short with the growth of the rebellion and their places within it, Kanan's done abstaining. And he knows Hera is too.Written for the Kanera Trope-Athon prompt: First Time





	Long Time Coming

**Author's Note:**

> Set sometime between season 3 and 4. Other than that ... I don't really know what to say about this piece except I might have gotten carried away. And Hera knows what she wants.
> 
> Anyway, enjoy! I'd love to know what you thought!

Whether anyone believed it or not, in all the time he and Hera had been together they’d never been physically intimate with each other. At least, not in the way _everyone_ assumed they clearly had to be. Sure. They were close. They were very close, and by most standards romantically involved in every way that mattered.

But never in that way.

It wasn’t for lack of hoping or trying on either of their parts. At least, not on his. Not at first. In the beginning, he’d been exactly who he was. Kanan Jarrus, ladies’ man and rowdy gunslinger. And Hera, she’d always been so beautiful, so attractive. He’d flirted shamelessly. He’d wanted her, and had tried just about every trick he knew to entice her into making some fun mistakes with him.

But back then, the noes had come from Hera, as he’d expected. In the early days she’d known, at the heart of him, who he was when it came to women. What ultimately he was like. Kanan didn’t settle down, hadn’t ever settled down, and a physical relationship that early in the tentative thing they were growing together would have been gratifying, but ultimately destructive. Hera’s closeness and understanding would have scared him. Driven him away.

He’d loved her a little more every time she’d stood firm and told him no. For never bending to his persistent flirting, even those times he’d worked so hard so he _could_ run, because he was scared. Hera was steady. Resolved. She’d known even then what he needed, if he was going to stay.

When it became clear after their first year that his self-defeating tactics for a good fuck with her weren’t going to get him anywhere, Kanan stopped. At least, he stopped all the destructive, intentional flirting, and something real started to develop. Camaraderie. Intimacy. Trust. Everything he’d ever needed from a friend and companion. Everything he needed to feel invested. To stay. The good times between them had rolled, healthy and strong.

Then Hera had been brave enough late one night to ask him. Not about sex, but about his life. His life before, and something between them had shifted. He’d told her about his beginnings as a Jedi — a little at first, only a little. But admitting it, admitting it to _her_ , it had unlocked something in him again. The Jedi in him that he’d only tentatively allowed back into his life since Gorse. The Jedi that, every day, he considered becoming again.

To both of their surprise, when the possibility of sex presented itself again, the one who said no was Kanan.

It wasn’t for anything lofty, like Jedi philosophy or some renewed belief in celibacy. He’d spent his life growing up in the Temple, then growing up with the grittiest dregs the galaxy had to offer, and never once had he had as meaningful a relationship as he did with Hera. Master Billaba, she’d been important to him. Deeply important. The Order too. Even Kasmir.

But Hera was something else. And when the option had gradually reopened between them again, at Hera’s offer this time, he hadn’t taken it. Couldn’t. He hadn’t wanted to change things between them; the purity, if that was what it was. His relationship with her, he wanted it for its understanding. Its intimacy. For its unconditional love and beauty and all the goodness it gave them both. He hadn’t wanted to risk it with the possibility of more, even if he’d wanted more too.

And again, Hera, perfect glorious Hera, had understood.

After a while, the mutual longing had settled into gentle touches, soft looks, lively, flirty banter, and shared nights together where they did nothing more than sleep and chase away each other’s nightmares. That hadn’t stopped when Zeb joined the crew, nor when Sabine came aboard, or Ezra. Their crew-mates had never asked about the exact nature of their relationship. Only assumed. A few times Zeb had even taken their younger members out on supply runs to give ‘mom and dad’ a bit of time together, complete with a smirk and a wink.

They never did much more than sit next to each other in companionable silence. Cuddle if they were feeling particularly frisky.

The closest they’d come to crossing that unspoken line, however, had been before Malachor. In retrospect, Kanan wished now that he had. There had been something about that time in particular, more than any other time, that had felt … tight. As if the universe had tried to imply something important, to take a moment and _have_ a moment, together. He’d thought it was just the possibility that he might die there on that Sith planet. Kanan knew Hera had too, and still they’d stubbornly maintained their positions.

Well, he’d survived. Even if his sight hadn’t.

Sometimes in the middle of the night while he stared with blind eyes in the darkness, he could still hear his final promise to her before leaving. About seeing her again. He’d returned to her, but he’d broken his promise all the same. Now, the only time he saw her was in his dreams, or with his imagination. Sometimes during those long, dark nights when he was being honest with himself, he knew he couldn’t quite remember the exact color of her skin anymore, or the distinct shine of her eyes. Couldn’t help but feel that his memories and his body were betraying him.

But since Malachor, since … everything with Thrawn all the way up to the Battle of Atollon, there hadn’t been much time for even simple intimacy for either of them. They were busy, always busy, and the times they shared together now often felt stolen and all too brief. Indulgent in a time where indulgences felt shameful and selfish.

But his blindness had opened him up, as he’d slowly learned. Allowed him to see things more clearly, oddly enough. About himself. About Ezra. The rebellion. The Force and his place within it.

And Hera.

This time when he felt the distinct press of reality as it closed in, he wouldn’t stand firm. He didn’t even want to. Instead, he walked himself right into the _Ghost’s_ cockpit where Hera was working, and leaned against the terminal beside her.

“Come on,” he said with a grin. “Let’s get away for a while.”

Hera didn’t look up from the controls as she input commands, her fingers moving rapidly along the buttons and across levers. “I don’t know, Kanan. We just got back, and there’s a few upgrades I want to make before the next mission. Who knows when we’ll have the downtime next?”

Bemused, he put a hand on her shoulder and gently squeezed, seizing her attention.

“Hera.”

Silence met his singular word, and with it he felt her muscles slowly relax and lengthen. The usual devoted energy that filled her every action slipped away. Though he couldn’t see them, he knew her eyes studied him.

He also knew she understood exactly what he meant, when he’d said her name.

“The others?” Hera asked, her hand taking his so he could tug her up from the floor before she led him to the copilot’s seat. He sat and listened to the familiar sound of her flight sequence. The _Ghost_ was already in the air.

“Zeb’s drinking with Kallus. Ezra is spending some time with Sabine before she heads back to Krownest again. Chopper’s hanging out with AP-5.”

“So we’ve got the ship to ourselves.”

“Seems like.”

Hera hummed but didn’t say anything more. Instead she busied herself with alerting the tower that she’d be in orbit around Yavin for a few hours to check some minor internal repairs. That that’s where they’d be if she or Kanan were needed for anything. In no time, they were settled above the moon. A few other ships floated around as well, but their trajectories were well away from the _Ghost’s_. Hera hit the autopilot and they turned to each other.

The familiar drone of the _Ghost_ filled the air between them, thickening as they both waited to see what might happen next. If one of them was going to back out again. If the universe was going to conspire and stop them.

It did not, and finally Hera rose from her seat.

She turned his chair a little and he let her. Then he stabilized it by planting his feet on the floor as she climbed onto his lap, her legs astride his hips. His hands immediately relocated from the armrests to her thighs just as hers settled around his shoulders. The slide of fabric filled his ears, and he watched in the Force as she removed her flight gloves, finger by finger before tossing them on the floor behind them. With slow movements she pressed her bare fingers into his hair, dragging off the tie keeping it all back so the mass could fall free about his shoulders.

“Hard to believe I’ve gotten this far,” Hera mused as she gently pressed her brow against his, her warm breath brushing his lips. “You’re sure? I don’t think I’ll stop once you say yes.”

Kanan smiled at her as he lifted a hand to her neck, letting his fingers gently brush against the sensitive skin there. He closed his physical eyes and breathe her in. The soft smell of lemons and cream, and metal. Oil. Her. Force, he loved the scent of her. Idly he slipped that hand up to gently run his fingers down a warm lek, and he grinned when she shivered delicately against him. The hand in his hair tightened.

“I might just take that as a yes,” Hera warned, her voice lower and sensual. “And have my way with you anyway.”

Kanan groaned at the very idea, and he pulled her closer so their chests were pressed together. Turning his head to the side, he let his beard brush her cheek before stopping by her ear cone.

“I’ll beg if I have to.”

The hand in his hair tightened again, sending a dull ache of pain through his body that only enhanced the arousal that was igniting low in his belly. That hand held him still as she curled around him, grinding brazenly into his lap. Soon her lips were right by his ear, her nose taking just a moment to brush along the sensitive shell of it.

“With how long you’ve made me wait,” she crooned. “I’ll have you begging regardless.”

His fingers around her waist squeezed, and his voice was husky. “Promises, promises, darling.”

She angled her head and aligned their lips, and he sighed with relief into them.

This wasn’t the first time they’d ever kissed. Truly, they’d kissed quite a bit over the years. More in the beginning when they were testing their boundaries, if less now with their work with the rebellion. But during those moments when they did, they’d been careful not to let it develop into more than a long and slow burn between them. Gentle and relaxing, but never more.

Now the potential for more stoked the embers they’d both tended carefully into life. To burn. To erupt, and though the kiss had started gentle and teasing as it always did, in no time their usual tender touches replaced themselves with boundary defying explorations. Bolder moves, deeper delves and Kanan surrendered to the need festering within him. Between them. They were doing this. He _wanted_ to do this.

“I keep expecting,” Hera said between kisses as she dragged her hands over his chest to slip under his shirt where it had become untucked at some point. “Something to pop up. To stop this.”

“Nothing’s stopping this,” he promised as he leaned forward, pressing his hips against hers so she could feel his interest and intent clearly enough for herself. “I’m done stopping it.”

“Stars, you’ve had me waiting.” She ground against him and moaned into his mouth. He grinned.

“Patience. Virtue.”

Hera grabbed hold of his beard between her fingers, and he knew she was staring resolutely into his blind eyes.

“I am done waiting.”

And the vigor that filled the kiss that followed ensured he knew that single fact very well.

Kanan wasn’t at all sure when they’d found their way into Hera’s cabin, but he could honest to Force say he didn’t give a _damn_. Not when she owned his mouth like that. Not with her legs wrapped around his waist as he supported her on his hips. Not when she pressed herself against him boldly and dared him to be bolder. To show her what he’d learned in his youth jumping planets before he’d met her and she’d stolen his heart.

Their weight shifted and he stumbled with her into a wall. It caught them with a solid thud that resounded in the room, and Hera’s bright laughter filled the air, mixing with his at the excitement of having almost fallen. Then it turned into a groan of pleasure as he used the wall to help press up against her in all the right places. Her fingers burrowed into his hair, his neck, and he wondered _why_ of all the times he’d told a woman no, it had been with _this_ one?

Mistakes. Hindsight. Lessons learned and what not. He sure as hell wasn’t making that mistake again.

Skillfully she stripped him of his shirt, then pushed off against the wall with her back as she unlocked her legs and stepped to the ground. He was about to draw her close again, but she surprised him by turning and shoving _him_ against the wall. That hand reappeared again around the back of his neck to pull him down into another bruising kiss. Her other one had a mission of its own, and he felt his belt go slack. The button of his pants loosened before the sound of his zipper ripped through the air.

“Hera!” Kanan gasped as her hand slid around him, enclosing him with the curl of her fingers as she pumped along his length.

“You’re going to have to do better if you’re going to keep up, Kanan,” she told him coyly, her beautiful alto coated in arousal. He sucked in a breath before turning his head up and barking a laugh at the ceiling. When he looked back down at her, his smile was indulgent and he placed a hand along the smooth line of her chin.

“Force, I love you.”

Hera nipped at his lip. “Oh, I know it.”

He chuckled at her before starting a kiss that was all teeth and tongue and battle as he upped his game just like she wanted him to. Which, all things considered, wasn’t that easy. Not when it seemed she was intent on testing the limits of his self-control and self-restraint with that slow, maddeningly pleasurable hand down below.

But he held. He wasn’t a Jedi for nothing, and as their tongues fought, he set to work on her flight suit. Under normal circumstances he could pull her out of it easily enough given some time and a clear mind. Now his fingers were dumb and anxious, and her clothes felt less like wrapping paper he’d been staring at for years, and more like a stark barrier.

“Do your clothes have to be so unnecessarily complicated?” He worked the belt and buttons holding her flight pants up around her small waist with minimal success, even as they both attempted to kick off their boots at the same time, which didn’t make the process easier.

“Well I don’t exactly put them on with the intent of getting out of them quick,” Hera replied as she stepped back to take over the arduous job of stripping herself. Kanan took the opportunity to tug off his remaining boot, along with the rest of his clothes in a hurried scramble. When he turned back to her, he sucked in a breath and paused, taking the time to stare at her in the Force.

This also wasn’t the first time he’d seen her naked. Years on crazy missions, living in close quarters together coupled with their familiarity, all but ensured they’d caught glimpses a time or two of each other in the nude. But this time was different. This time he could let himself stare. Appreciate. Touch. Take. And she could too.

The pause between them grew as they let each other take their fill. He traced her in his mind with the Force. All her curves. All the delicate muscles that hid unfathomable strength. The scars and soft skin. He drew a breath and he could smell her in the air, heady and her and everything he wanted right now.

Thoughtlessly he approached, eager to take her in his arms, lay her down, worship her body nice and slow and tease out whispers and moans as he undid her piece by piece. After so long, it was everything she deserved. Careful reverence. Eager devotion. Hera was perfect, and she deserved to be treated as such.

His intentions must have read clearly on his face because Hera’s lips cracked into a wicked smirk.

“That’s cute,” she said with amusement as she burst with action and shoved him back on her bunk. Kanan flopped and had no time to change their positions before she was once again astride his hips, a hand on his chest keeping him pinned while the other reached for him where he now stood proudly, fully erect. With languid movements, she slid the length of him along the wet slick that had gathered between her legs, and his mind skittered with jerky thoughts when she placed him at the entrance of her body.

It struck him that this … this really was happening. They weren’t just toeing a line anymore. They were about to cross it.

Still, he couldn’t help himself. “Oh, no more foreplay?”

He gasped as she let herself slip down to envelop his sensitive head in her heat. His hands clambered for their places on her hips, and she chuckled at him.

“Luv, we’ve had years of foreplay. _Trust me_. I’m ready.” A weighted pause grew in the air. “Are you?”

There was no hesitation in his mind. “Force, yes.”

And without preamble, Hera sunk down onto him, and his entire world constricted to the tight heat engulfing him like a wet fist. Time lengthened as she gradually slid down, driving him mad with the decent before stopping halfway to lift, then repeating the motion again. Over and over, she took him inch by agonizing inch. It was a struggle not to thrust into her, but she seemed intent on controlling this, evident by the hand pressing against his hip, keeping him down.

With a satisfied groan, she _finally_ dropped the rest of the way and went still. Seated like this atop him, tightening around him with shameless abandon, Kanan might have been a virgin for how he felt in that moment before her. He didn’t know if it was just the years of celibacy stacking up against him or this hidden sensuality Hera was revealing to him, but for the moment it was hard to remember there had ever been any women before her.

He wondered if it showed on his face, or rang true in his voice. If somehow he’d accidentally said it out loud while his mind had taken a trip. Above him Hera smiled with smug pleasure, as if she knew.

Then she began to move, the rhythm leisurely and graceful, though it left no room for doubt about the storm she was holding in reserve. The fierce Twi’lek lover he was finding she’d hidden away so well. He watched her close her eyes in the Force. An expression of wanton enjoyment spread across her face at the feel of him inside of her as she ground against him. A thrill of arousal spiked in his blood. He wanted more of that. More of that open pleasure on her face.

And he really couldn’t let her have all the fun. After all, he _did_ have skills, rusty as they were. But now was definitely the time to dust them off.

Hera convulsed as he reached a hand under her and began caressing and fondling her special bud of nerves while using his other to stroke along a lek that had dropped close. She gasped, a shiver following after, and he enticed her into another indulgent kiss. He kept his fingers nice and busy as she squirmed and lost her rhythm against him, moaning into his mouth, pawing at his skin.

“Kanan!” she cried, then groaned in satisfaction. Having succeeded in wrangling control, he took the opportunity to thrust up into her to drag out more pleased moans that he drank in like water. He owned the rhythm, using his powerful muscles to guided it and her lust, but he knew the moment she came back to herself.

Hera left him a reeling mess as she slammed her hips down on him, grinding into him as she established her dominance again, before she jerked his hands up. Wildly, he thought she might attempt to restrain him and the hot thrill that flooded his body left him hoping and ready. He was no stranger to bondage games, and with this aggressive queen of a woman above him, he was eager to see what Hera might do with some ropes or scarves.

Instead she straightened and guided him to place his hands on her breasts, around her erect nipples. As he happily obliged, drawing a breathy gasp out of her with a sharp tweak, he watched as she tipped her head back and sighed. Again, her hips moved with purpose as she controlled the rhythm of their bodies. The tips of her lekku brushed his thighs, and he ached.

Kanan craved physical sight more than he let on. Most of his life, he’d taken it for granted. He’d never actually appreciated the bright blue of his lightsaber. The glory of the stars as they shown in their multitude in the depths of space. The beauty of the specific colors of green that made up and filled in Hera Syndulla. He missed that. He missed that so kriffing much, it ached, and right now he missed it more than ever.

But he had to admit. Since losing his sight, he’d become more sensitive in other ways. His hearing obviously was heightened. So was his sense of touch. Smell. Taste. But it was in that sixth sense sort of way that he truly found depth and expansion. Found not what could be called a replacement for his lost sight, but an equal.

Hera glowed above him.

It wasn’t in the way that light generally glows. It was that extrasensory way, in his feelings, in the Force, that he felt her glow. It was radiant. Like heat. He guessed that was the best equivalent. Heat, or the subtle spread of empathy.

With Hera above him, riding him, he could feel it all. All her emotions were right there for him to see. Her love. Her desire. Her trust and care and every sharp thrill of pleasure. They were _right there._ So close he could touch them. On a whim, he reached out with the Force and let his own emotions mesh with hers in a way he hoped she could feel.

When she gasped in response, her head tilting down abruptly to look at him, he knew she felt it. He also knew he now had access to the best sex-toy in the galaxy, now that he knew he could use the Force to share emotions with her. Influence them. With a very distant part of his mind, he couldn’t help but point out that the Force was not a toy to be used for their sexual enjoyment, but he ignored that chiding part of him fast. He grinned wickedly up at her, and her breath hitched.

“Kanan!”

“Just keep yourself open,” he told her as he reached up to her neck to trail down over her collarbone then over a pert breast as he began to experiment. Gently he pinched a nipple and enhanced her experience of it in the Force. She shuddered, and he felt the intense desire she felt for him burn like fire against him. He basked in it before dropping his hands to her hips. “Keep going.” His wicked smirk turned proud and teasing. Daring. “If you can.”

“Oh, you’ve done it now, luv.” Hera leaned down and brushed a kiss over his lips before she gave him a confident smile. “That’s not something you should ever say to an aroused Twi’lek.”

“It’s been said, and I’m not taking it back,” he egged on. “What are you gonna do about it?” Hera chuckled and it was low and indulgent and perfect, and he couldn’t _wait_ for her to teach him a lesson.

If he’d thought she was riding him before, she’d clearly been going gentle on him. Now? She was proud and merciless, and he couldn’t stop the groan of want that she wrung out of him like a master musician. She rode him as if she had been every night since they’d met, and knew every trick and move there was to make him little more than putty in her hands. He couldn’t breathe, he could hardly think, and all the while he fought her in the Force. Drove her higher as she drove him higher. Let her feel his lust, his deep desire for her as he pulled hers out of her with every motion, reaching for what they’d never shared together, but craved more than anything.

It wasn’t long before her rhythm began to change and grow rough, and though it had been years, he knew what that meant. She was close. She was _so_ close. And he wanted that for her. He wanted her to find her pleasure, he wanted to force it out of her, to bring her more bliss than she’d ever experienced in her life. That would do it for him, he knew. But she was holding back. He could feel it in the Force. Hera was fighting it. Fighting him.

“Don’t hold back,” he breathed as he sucked at her collarbone, nibbled at the prominent protrusion of bone. “Cum for me.”

“Not yet,” she growled fiercely as she raked her nails along his back, causing him to gasp and arch and buck into her harder. She moaned with want and he felt her pleasure sharpen to even greater heights. _What was she waiting for_? “Not until you say it.”

Kanan’s mind scrambled as he tried to make sense of this complicated new problem he was in no mental state to handle. What? Say what? What could she possibly mean? _Now of all times she was testing him_?

He felt Hera’s lips curl in a smile as she purred against his cheek. “Remember? Earlier in the cockpit?”

“There’s a lot to remember about the cockpit.”

Kanan’s voice dried up when he felt her inner muscles constricted around him, and he was terrified he was going to orgasm before she did. He gritted his teeth and breathed through his nose to keep control of himself before _forcing_ his mind to work. What had they talked about? It had to have been during the banter, the verbal foreplay, what—?

He couldn’t get the words out of his mouth fast enough when he finally remembered.

“Go on,” he keened into her neck, his voice desperate as he fought for the last vestiges of control. “Do it. Please, darling. I’m begging!”

Her hands encircled his face as she turned it up to hers. “That was all I was waiting for, luv.”

Then she kissed him roughly, enough to make his toes curl and his hold on her hips turned bruising as he thrust up into her. Thoughtlessly he filled the emotional amalgam throbbing around them with pleasure, with need, with everything he knew she needed to finish, to climb that final insurmountable distance to her peak and—!

Hera cried, loud and beautiful and pure and rawer than he’d _ever_ heard her cry out before in his life. Her nails sunk into his hair and his shoulder ruthlessly as her body tightened and shattered with desperation and relief, all while she screamed his name. He gritted his teeth and focused on pressing wave after wave of euphoria into her body. Stoking the explosion she was already feeling to heights he couldn’t help but feel proud and sure she’d _never_ experienced before with anyone else.

That heady and selfish pleasure rebounded on him as, in a breathtaking move, Hera somehow turned in back on him. Instinctively using her own emotions and feelings to send back and enhance his own experience.

In an instant, he felt as if he’d been overwhelmed by an intense, concentrated shot of ecstasy that tore through his mind and body stronger than anything he’d _ever_ experienced in his life. What careful control he’d been clinging desperately to vanished. His voice mixed and harmonized with Hera’s as he clung to her, their bodies rutting together, without either of their conscious control.

The wave continued to crash and crash and crash, long enough for Kanan to wonder if he’d kriffed something up. If he’d triggered something in the Force that now had its grasp on them and would never let them go. That by some miracle or curse, they were stuck in this maelstrom of orgasmic rapture forever.

Though if it was with Hera, well, he couldn’t exactly bring himself to say it was a terrible thing.

Fortunately — or unfortunately — the wave began to lose strength, receding in violence to gentle laps that rose, crested for a shared shudder of aftershock before dropping, only to crest again just a little lighter than before. As the orgasm ebbed away, he felt his body again where he’d all but left it on the _Ghost_.

At some point, he’d collapsed with Hera limp on top of him, melded against each other as their sweat cooled in the open air of her cabin. Blindly with muscles he could hardly feel, he groped down along their bodies in a valiant attempt to find the sheet that had been dislodged at some point in their vigorous activities, and he thought it a victory when its soft edges tickled his fingertips. Hera hummed in tired appreciation as he tugged the sheet up over their bodies before she nuzzled into his neck.

“What in hell were we waiting for?” she sighed in that sultry tone he found he now adored. “We should have done _that_ ages ago.”

The chuckle that rolled through his chest gently shook her on top of him, and he couldn’t help but smile wide and true up at the ceiling. Deep love and adoration filled his heart and he tucked her up in his arms with a sudden burst of energy that caused her to giggle as she let him cuddle her. Before he’d even hinted at going this far with her, a tiny part of him had wondered what might happen after. Would it be awkward? Would they regret it?

He chuckled not only in agreement that they _clearly_ should have done this ages ago, but also at himself because he was a fool for thinking that anything but what was happening now would ever be the outcome of their coupling. They’d been together for so long, seen each other at their highest and their lowest. Ugliest and most beautiful. There were no secrets between them, and this was just a long overdue step, one their relationship had been ready for ages ago, if not themselves.

How could there be embarrassment? How could this have ever been a mistake? Not when there was so much love and understanding between them. He could feel it in the Force, like a warm blanket wrapping around his heart. Their hearts. Not even the dogmatic shame of the Jedi code could touch this.

Kanan sighed as Hera curled against him, her body relaxing as afterglow swallowed them both. Unable to stop himself, Kanan helped himself to her open feelings. To the love and care and selfish satisfaction that now radiated from the core of her into the Force and directly to him. It was beautiful, a sea of beautiful emotions.

And it made Hera the center of his world. She was always the center of his world. She always would be, no matter what the future held for them.

“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered into her skin, and she hummed lightly with fatigue.

“So says the blind man.”

“I doubt you’ve changed color since I was blinded. I’m sure I’d have heard that one.” Another amused giggle slipped from her mouth, and Kanan grinned. He didn’t know when the last time she’d been so relaxed like this was. When the last time he’d heard her laughter when it wasn’t edged by dogged darkness or the weight of leadership and responsibility.

It was a sad thing to note, but right now, he couldn’t be bothered by it. Because right now, here together with her, wrapped up in each other after a dance that was a long time coming, she was laughing and it was real. It was perfect and free, and he tucked it away like a treasure in his heart where he kept all the precious things he loved.

Soon quiet filled the space between them, colored only by the sound of their breaths as they slowed. He counted her heartbeats and smiled lovingly as they matched every one of his beat for beat. Felt every pulse as it echoed love back between them. Back and forth. Back and forth. Words felt pale in the wake of that empathic honesty, and so there were no words.

There was only the truth between them. Unspoken but real. That was all they had ever needed. That had always been enough for them.

It wasn’t long before he felt Hera slip off into sleep, another thing he knew she didn’t get enough of, and carefully he cradled her against him. With the future in turmoil like it was, with none of their lives or their futures certain, every moment they could take for themselves was cherished and valuable. He didn’t know if they’d get another chance to be together like this. He hoped like hell they would … but even if they didn’t, they still _finally_ had this. Their first time together. Perhaps their only time, but even if it was at least there would be no regrets.

And it was that single thought which caused him to hold her a little tighter as he smiled into the crown of her head, before he followed her into sleep.


End file.
